Chessical: Ilivitsky was undoubtedly of Grandmaster strength, but being in the post war Soviet Union denied him the opportunity to obtain the title. He was far stronger than may of the "GM's" of today, but his career was largely confined to internal Soviet events.
Ilivitsky was born in 1921 and died in 1989. He became an IM in 1955 and was twice Russian champion in 1948 and 1949.

I do not have a full record of Ilivitsky's accomplishments in tournaments, but from the cross tables in the collected games of other Soviet players I can provide this:

First in the 8th Russian championship 1948, 10th in the 16th USSR Championship 1948, first in the 9th Russian championship 1949, 7th in the 17th USSR Championship 1949, 6th in the Russian Championship 1950.

5th in the semi final of the 18th USSR Championship, 14th in the 20th USSR Championship, 15th in the 21st USSR Championship, 4th in the semi-final of the 22nd USSR Championship.

Then a sudden epiphany. He was <5th in the 22nd USSR Championship>. This was one of the strongest of all time with: Geller, Smyslov, Botvinnik, Petrosian, Spassky, Keres, Taimanov and Korchnoi (finished second to last) participating.

This qualified him for the the <Gothenberg Interzonal in 1955> where he scored +1 including a win over Geller. He later beat the Czech grandmaster Ludek Pachman in a play-off match.

He did not make it to the 1955 Soviet Championship coming 9th in the semi-final. Unable to sustain himself at the very top of the Soviet system, he lacked opportunities to play outside and gain a grandmaster title (in a similar way to Rashid Gibiatovich Nezhmetdinov).

I do not have a full record of his tournaments, but later highlights include a 6th at the Tchigorin Memorial in 1965.

I believe that died in very poor circumstances, and may have committed suicide.

percyblakeney: Apparently Ilivitsky committed suicide by jumping out of a window: http://www.chesscorner.com/cbreak/c... In the 22nd USSR Championship (in 1955) he finished equal with Botvinnik and Petrosian, and just half a point behind winners Geller and Smyslov.

Peligroso Patzer: Ilivitsky is discussed at pages 296-299 of A. Kotov and M. Yudovich, "The Soviet School of Chess", Dover Publications, (c)1961. The following win against Smyslov from the XXII Soviet Champiuonship is analyzed at pp. 298-299: Smyslov vs Ilivitsky, 1955

First, he tied for 3rd in the USSR Championship, behind Smyslov and Geller, but equal with Spassky, Petrosian, and Botvinnik, and ahead of players like Keres, Taimanov, Averbakh, Kotov, and Korchnoi. This championship served as a zonal tournament and Ilivitsky thus qualified for the Interzonal.

In the Gothenburg Interzonal, Ilivitsky got off to a quick start, winning his first two games. He continued to play well, and after 16 rounds the leaders were:

Bronstein 12/15
Keres 10.5/15
Panno 9.5/16
Ilivitsky 9/15
Szabo 9/16

The top 9 players would end up qualifying for the Candidates' Tournament, and Ilivitsky seemed well on his way to being one of them.

But he then lost consecutive games to Najdorf and Guimard, eventually scoring only 1.5/5 in the rest of the tournament and finishing half a point from qualifying for the Candidates' Tournament.

Robeson: Ilivitsky is a sad case of what could happen to Soviet chess players. I think that the fact that he never appeared in another Soviet Championship after 1955 and the decrease in his chess activity after the Interzonal indicate either a nervous breakdown or- more likely, imo- some sort of censure that hurt his chess career chances. Both Panno and Pilnik *did* qualify to the Candidates, so the Soviet authorities probably wrote him off. It would be nice if someone like Gennady Sosonko would write on him in his NiC column. He hasn't yet, though, so he may not know much himself.

Nosnibor: Master Ilivitsky you are remembered today 25 years on.Apparently he moved to Sverdlosk,the capital of the Urals where he was a design engineer by profession and was resident there whilst competing in the 1955 USSR Championship.In the Gothenburg Interzonal he was only half a point off the qualifying place but to his credit he scored 50% against the nine qualifiers including a fine win against Geller. R.I.P

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